Washington – Trump Wants To End Welfare As Bill Clinton Knows It

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    President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017, in Washington. From left, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Trump, and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)Washington – Overhauling welfare was one of the defining goals of Bill Clinton’s presidency, starting with a campaign promise to “end welfare as we know it,” continuing with a bitter policy fight and producing change that remains hotly debated 20 years later.

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    Now, President Donald Trump wants to put his stamp on the welfare system, apparently in favor of a more restrictive policy. He says “people are taking advantage of the system.”

    Trump, who has been signaling interest in the issue for some time, said this past week that he wants to tackle the issue after the tax overhaul he is seeking by the end of the year. He said changes were “desperately needed in our country” and that his administration would soon offer plans.

    For now, the president has not offered details. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said more specifics were likely early next year. But the groundwork has already begun at the White House and Trump has made his interest known to Republican lawmakers.

    Paul Winfree, director of budget policy and deputy director of Trump’s Domestic Policy Council, told a recent gathering at the conservative Heritage Foundation that he and another staffer had been charged with “working on a major welfare reform proposal.” He said they have drafted an executive order on the topic that would outline administration principles and direct agencies to come up with recommendations.

    “The president really wants to lead on this,” Winfree said. “He has delivered that message loud and clear to us. We’ve opened conversations with leadership in Congress to let them know that that is the direction we are heading.”

    Trump said in October that welfare was “becoming a very, very big subject, and people are taking advantage of the system.”

    Clinton ran in 1992 on a promise to change the system but struggled to get consensus on a bill, with Democrats divided and Republicans pushing aggressive changes. Four years later, he signed a law that replaced a federal entitlement with grants to the states, placed a time limit on how long families could get aid and required recipients to go to work eventually.

    It has drawn criticism from some liberal quarters ever since. During her presidential campaign last year, Democrat Hillary Clinton faced activists who argued that the law fought for by her husband punished poor people.

    Kathryn Edin, a professor at Johns Hopkins University who has been studying welfare since the 1990s, said the law’s legacy has been to limit the cash assistance available to the very poor and has never become a “springboard to work.” She questioned what kinds of changes could be made, arguing that welfare benefits are minimal in many states and there is little evidence of fraud in other anti-poverty programs.

    Still, Edin said that welfare has “never been popular even from its inception. It doesn’t sit well with Americans in general.”

    Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at Heritage, said he would like to see more work requirements for a range of anti-poverty programs and stronger marriage incentives, as well as strategies to improve results for social programs and to limit waste. He said while the administration could make some adjustments through executive order, legislation would be required for any major change.

    “This is a good system,” he said. “We just need to make this system better.”

    Administration officials have already suggested they are eyeing anti-poverty programs. Trump’s initial 2018 budget proposal, outlined in March, sought to sharply reduce spending for Medicaid, food stamps and student loan subsidies, among other programs.

    Budget director Mick Mulvaney said this year, “If you are on food stamps and you are able-bodied, we need you to go to work.”


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    47 Comments
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    6 years ago

    The Archy plan

    Cut the tax rate for those earning between 40 and 200k.

    Pay for it by cappiing ones total net income from all government stuff .

    It will work very simple. Say you now earn 25k via flipping burgers or a hiemisha school teacher . But you get another 60k from the government via Medicaid , snap wic Hud chs earned tax credits etc .. so in essence your total income is slightly less than 85k.

    Now let’s look at the accountant putting in 60 hours a week at pwc . He earns 60k which is roughly around 50k after taxes .
    So the 25k earner does far better than the 60k . Is that fair ? And who in their right mind will want to be an accountant when I can earn much more flipping burgers or teaching part time ?

    My proposal put a limit on total government handouts to one person
    Based on the scenario above I’d limit total benefits so that ones total income can never exceed 50k . So if you earn 25k and come home with 20k you only receive 30k in
    Benefits . You can choose which govt benefit you’d like . But only 30k is your allowance .

    That’s much smarter that adding restrictions which block the most vulnerable and don’t stop the exploiters

    yonasonw
    Member
    yonasonw
    6 years ago

    As the tax bills show, the only “welfare” that the GOP supports is corporate welfare…both lowered tax rates and increased deductions (“indirect tax payments” in tax lingo) for corporations and the wealthy.

    I want to see what all the ideological confused jungeleit are going to do now that their benefits are in jeopardy.

    In 2010 I was amazed at the many statements I heard made by many yeshivishe kollel members, sons and sons-in-law of rabbinical friends, in opposition to “Obamacare,” claiming it is “socialism” – all the while they were signed up for all matter of State benefit programs, including medical assistance.

    If any of you think Trump and the GOP tax bills will help a majority of middleclass working people, and not serve to increase their tax burdens and lower their property values, then you simply have not seen the large majority of economic analyses that are all over print and online media. Keep your delusions…suckers.

    triumphinwhitehouse
    triumphinwhitehouse
    6 years ago

    get rid of section 8, food stamps, head start first then EXPAND Medicaid to include all working people. section 8 and food stamps people become more lazy.

    puppydogs
    puppydogs
    6 years ago

    President Trump should take a page out of Rudy’s book and end welfare as we know it. Look what Rudy did for NYC, look how he cleaned up the city. Hatzlocha Rabbah President Trump.

    cbdds
    cbdds
    6 years ago

    Understanding the NYC bottle deposit and the proposed bag fee explains it all.
    I work and get no benefits. I pay a .o5 deposit on every bottle of water I buy. Snap users are exempt. That is simply not fair. It is not really a fee, they still get the money back if they recycle but they never pay it.
    Are snap users busier than working people?

    puppydogs
    puppydogs
    6 years ago

    It’s a known fact that Hashomer and his ilk love government handouts. They couldn’t care less about the working class. As long as he and all his liberal buddies receive Obamacare all is right in the world.

    6 years ago

    The heimishe behaimas who voted for Trump must be really shaking in their shoes. You can all say goodbye to Section 8, WIC, Medicaid, etc. Let me know if I missed anything.